Traditional resistance exercise techniques typically involve the use of weight machines or free weights, the latter often used in combination with a variety of bars and benches. Traditional exercise techniques often involve isolating and fatiguing one muscle or muscle group at a time. Traditional resistance training equipment and techniques suffer from a number of disadvantages.
A short walk through a local gym or fitness club reveals racks of free weights and numerous space-hogging benches and weight machines, many designed to exercise a single muscle group. For most people, the sheer bulk of the equipment forecloses any possibility of a comprehensive home fitness center comprised of traditional equipment. In addition, a comprehensive set of traditional resistance fitness equipment generally costs thousands of dollars. Due to these space and cost restraints, individuals are faced with the decision of purchasing a gym membership and commuting to the gym or buying a space-saving less comprehensive and less bulky “home gym”.
Furthermore, individuals seeking to maintain a regular regimen of resistance exercise face additional challenges when traveling for business or pleasure. During travel, one may often find that fitness centers in hotels have little to no resistance equipment, that the closest franchise of the gym to which they belong is not convenient, or that the campground or similar location is completely lacking any sort of fitness equipment at all. Traditional resistance equipment, and even more compact “home gyms” are too bulky to conveniently take on trips.
In addition to cost and portability issues, traditional free weights can cause undesired negative effects. They are bound by the law of gravity and therefore only supply a downward force. In addition to inherent risks related to accidentally dropping weights, over time downward force takes a toll on a person's joints. For similar reasons, safely working with free weights sometimes requires a “spotter”.
Traditional exercise using both free weights and traditional weight machines generally operates to isolate and fatigue muscles through movement in a single plane in order to increase strength and muscle mass. However, these techniques can lead to stiffness and limited range of motion. A growing trend is towards functional training, which enhances normal body movements instead of isolating one muscle at a time.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for affordable, compact and portable resistance training equipment and techniques that provide the ability to perform a comprehensive workout regimen at home or while travelling, thereby eliminating the need for a traditional gym and the inherent problems with using a traditional gym such as inaccessibility, wasted travel time, and expense. Furthermore, there is a need for resistance training equipment that facilitates multi-planar and functional training exercises in addition to traditional isolation-based exercises.